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DEL.ICIO.USS.P. and the Sunshine Band
Georgia's business community asserts its influence, to the concern of newspapers and judges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah — Two weird but still significant events were observed at Thursday’s session of the Georgia Press Association.
The first was lunch. There is something of a war over priorities going on between Georgia’s newspaper publishers and the state’s chambers of commerce.
Robert Williams, the publisher from Blackshear, was bold enough to declare “Gott mit uns” during the blessing, but in English. He thanked God for the “sunshine” in Georgia, and loudly prayed that the Almighty would allow it to continue.
He wasn’t talking weather. He was talking open government.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is just as confident that God — and Western civilization — is on his side, leans toward the business point of view.
“Sunshine is good,” the former gentleman farmer replied to the crowd. “But you need a little bit of rain now and then, too.”
Another episode involved Augusta attorney David Hudson’s fulsome introduction of state Supreme Court Justice Hugh Thompson. This also happened before the food started flowing.
By the time Hudson had reviewed Thompson’s Boy Scout career, three rail-thin women in the audience had fainted from want of nourishment. Sweet tea was administered, and no ambulances were summoned.
This was evidence of yet another war brewing in Georgia. Four state Supreme Court justices are up for re-election this year. For the last several weeks, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce has been struggling over which one of three — the fourth is a safe Perdue appointee — to oppose in the November election.
Thompson is one of the targeted three.
A memo from Chamber CEO and president George Israel has fallen into our hands, along with the positions of the three justices on 15 decisions rated as faulty by the business organization.
“I am now personally convinced that business has no choice but to step forward and engage in these races. The records of the three justices we reviewed are generally not friendly to business, often reflect a bias built on personal preference than on the law, and stray from the application and interpretation of Georgia’s Constitution to the facts and lean toward judicial activism,” Israel states.
The object is to protect the gains granted by the Legislature last year, when that body placed caps on lawsuits against physicians.
“We, now…as a Chamber, must make an important decision as to what role the Georgia Chamber will play in educating voters about the voting history of the incumbent members of the court,” Israel concluded.
You can read the entire memo, and the ratings here.
The primary decision is which one of three justices will Michael Wiggins — the Bush Administration lawyer who has signed up for the contest — choose to run against.
Thompson, the former Boy Scout, is singled out in the ratings for declaring that a tobacco company still could be sued for damages, despite a settlement by the state of Georgia, on behalf of all its population.
But Thompson has distributed a letter of support signed not just by Michael Bowers, the Republican and former attorney general, but by Paul Holmes, chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
So going after Thompson would likely to split both Republicans and the business community.
Better to go after state Supreme Court Justice Carol Hustein. At least that’s how thoughts are turning. For the second time in two years, a female justice is likely to wear a bull’s eye.
Comments
By gtlatl
June 15, 2006 10:50 PM | Link to this
If a judge can rule that a treadmill manufacturer is negligent when some bozo walks into it, he or she ought to be removed from the Court. That’s outrageous! If I walk into my Ford, I’m gonna sue Ford. Surely in Georgia, I’ll win the jackpot!
By lal
June 15, 2006 10:52 PM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? An “injured worker” can play 23 holes of golf and still win workers’ compensation coverage. Unbelieveable! Go Chamber! Knock these activist idiots off the court.